“It’s incredible. I mean I thought he was incredible a year ago. I’ve said it a million times - to sit out a year, come to a new city, all new teammates, a very unusual type of injury. I don’t know where he finished but he was up there in every category that quarterbacks look at. And then this one was pretty phenomenal – seven touchdown passes and ties an NFL record.”

On having their first game against the defending Super Bowl Champions

“I think it added motivation. I mean we’ve had to talk about that game forever. I think we were just looking forward to playing again, unfortunately it wasn’t the next week of last year. We had to wait eight months. Really at the end of the day it was a fire in your belly, a pain, a scar – I don’t know. But it is a motivator.”

“I don’t know. I guess I haven’t had a whole lot of time to think about it. Our offensive line did a great job protecting against a tough bunch up front. That’s a good pass-rushing bunch up front. [WR] Wes [Welker] is tough down there in that red zone. I’ve seen him score on those little option routes a bunch – usually being on the other side. It was fun to be on the same side of it. Great game for (TE) Julius (Thomas) - two big touchdowns. I thought one of the biggest plays of the game might have been after we had the fumble on special teams. They had a drive and we went out and answered. I hit Julius on a little out-route and he took it down the sideline.

“And then [WR] Demaryius [Thomas], we’ve seen him over and over again go up and catch the fade route. He can catch the quick slant and go the distance. It’s fun to play quarterback when you have a lot of guys working hard and making a lot of plays for you.”

“I did not quite see him get in the end zone. That is always a good sound after you get blasted on the ground and you are playing at home and you hear the crowd cheering, it usually means touchdown. The hit does not hurt quite as bad when you hear that noise. It was a great call by [Offensive Coordinator] Adam [Gase] after a turnover. I think that is a great time to take a shot. You have some momentum and you want to capitalize on that. It was an aggressive call and I hit Julius down the seam. He did a good job getting into the end zone.”

On if this win erases some of the sting from last year’s playoff loss

“Last year was last year, it is a new year for us. This was a good start to a new season for us. There is a good chance, hopefully, depending on how the season goes, you easily could expect to see Baltimore again. So it is just a start, get a couple days extra preparation for Week 2.”

“It didn’t seem like that many. You’re just sitting there like, ‘That was seven?’ because he goes nonchalantly about it, just throwing seven touchdown passes. It’s a credit to him and the offensive line and the whole team—defense getting turnovers—and things like that, and making things happen. It’s a good team win.”

On the offensive tempo making the Ravens defense tired

“We were getting gassed too, so it was going both ways. But, it does slow a pass rush down and different things like that, luckily it worked out for us today.”

On if the weather delay caused the team to start slow

“I don’t think so. They had to deal with it too. It’s one of those deals. We had to deal with it during that fan day out here so I think we were ready for it. It was just a matter of us going out there and clicking on all cylinders.”

“First, I want to thank the secondary, those guys get out there and do a good job which allowed me the opportunity to get some sacks. Another thing was, I took it personal that everyone was like, ‘Oh what are we going to do about the pass rush,’ but I’ve had like 70 sacks in my career. What am I some bum or something like that? I took it a little personal, but again, it’s one game and I’m going to enjoy it. I’m going to thank my teammates first because without them I wouldn’t make a play at all.”

On his condition level

“Well I just love football. Our coaches do a good job of rotating us to keep us fresh. Our strength coaches do a good job of conditioning us after practice and during practice, running to the ball. Again, I have to take my hat off to my team because it’s about them and that helps me get better.”

On what the key was against the Ravens offense

“The key was to stop the run. No. 27 (RB Ray Rice) is a fantastic guy catching the ball, running the ball, so I stopped him first, then tried to get after the quarterback. One motto that you always have to have is: ‘Earn the right to rush the passer,’ and that’s by stopping the run.”

Tight End Julius Thomas

On the game

“It went like we all thought it was going to go. The whole offseason we’ve been talking about how many different weapons we have and I think we were able to display that today. We had a lot of guys make plays - all of our backs, receivers, tight ends. So that’s just what we look to do. We just want to find the right matchups and try to go after those.”

On why the offense was so productive

“That’s what we work on. We practice every day trying to be an explosive offense. We want to come out there and make plays and distribute the ball. We’re just so confident in our personnel. We know we have so many guys that can get it done and tonight everybody else got a chance to see that.”

On if the Ravens were out of gas from the up-tempo offense

“Up-tempo is a pace that we like to play at just for a little changeup and they’re subbing guys in and out. As long as it’s an advantage for us we’ll continue to do it, and it worked for us tonight.”

“We came out with the attitude that it was a second-half game. We knew we had to put together four complete quarters. We were down, but we never let that get in our way. We just go ahead and finish the game.”

On fumbling the ball after his fourth-quarter interception

“It was a dumb play in retrospect. It’s not going to happen again. I was just so in the moment, you know, it was kind of selfish of me. I’m growing from it, and I’m not going to let nobody stop me from getting better.”

On watching the offense

“It’s like a little kid at a candy store, especially with [QB] Peyton [Manning] and the great offense he performs with. It has been a great time watching them, and I hope we can continue to see more of that [dynamic offense] as the year goes on.”